PlainPill

Cerebrolysin

People mainly take Cerebrolysin for memory, focus, mood. Based on 101 first-hand reports and 30 meta-analyses & systematic reviews in the medical literature. Ranked #78 of 1,974 overall.

52
User score
Mostly positive
26% positive6% mixed2% negative66% unclear

Of reports that state an outcome, 76% are positive.

Clinical research
AStrong research base
30
meta-analyses
60
RCTs
637
papers
High-risk compound. Peptides are not approved as supplements, carry serious and sometimes irreversible risks, are banned in competitive sport and may be restricted where you live. Nothing here is a recommendation to use it.

What Cerebrolysin does, according to users

Of the people who reported each effect, the share who said it got better.

What the research says

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses from PubMed, with their published conclusions.

AStrong research base

3+ meta-analyses or systematic reviews and 10+ randomized controlled trials in humans. The grade measures how much human research exists — read the conclusions below for what it found.

Alzheimers Dement · 2025 · Meta-analysis / systematic review
Therapeutic strategies in vascular cognitive impairment: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Conclusion: Ginkgo biloba extracts have shown the greatest cognitive and functional benefits, though their clinical significance remains uncertain, and certainty of evidence is overall low. Future trials should focus on a single VCI subtype, prioritize interventions with a strong mechanistic rationale, standardize diagnostic criteria, ensure adequate power for chosen outcomes, test against placebo, and implement FAIR data sharing to accelerate therapeutic discovery.

PubMed 41198594 ↗
Cochrane Database Syst Rev · 2016 · Meta-analysis / systematic review
Cerebrolysin for acute ischaemic stroke

Conclusion: The findings of this Cochrane Review do not demonstrate clinical benefits of cerebrolysin for treating acute ischaemic stroke. We found moderate-quality evidence suggesting that serious adverse events may be more common with cerebrolysin use in acute ischaemic stroke.

PubMed 27918088 ↗
Cochrane Database Syst Rev · 2017 · Meta-analysis / systematic review
Cerebrolysin for acute ischaemic stroke

Conclusion: The findings of this Cochrane Review do not demonstrate clinical benefits of cerebrolysin for treating acute ischaemic stroke. We found moderate-quality evidence of an increase in non-fatal SAEs with cerebrolysin use but not in total SAEs.

PubMed 28430363 ↗
Cochrane Database Syst Rev · 2013 · Meta-analysis / systematic review
Cerebrolysin for vascular dementia

Conclusion: Cerebrolysin may have positive effects on cognitive function and global function in elderly patients with vascular dementia of mild to moderate severity, but there is still insufficient evidence to recommend Cerebrolysin as a routine treatment for vascular dementia due to the limited number of included trials, wide variety of treatment durations and short-term follow-up in most of the trials.

PubMed 23440834 ↗

Dosage people report

As stated by users — not a recommendation. Follow the label or your doctor.

5 ml5 days on 2 off for two weeks
intramuscular injectionas reported
5 mgas reported
10 ml x53 weeks
300 mg (5ml)daily Monday-Friday, weekend break, 4-week cycles with 1-2 month breaks
5 mLcycling 4 weeks on

Reported side effects

How often each side effect came up across all reports.

brain fog ×4fatigue ×2tingling ×1hair loss ×1insomnia ×1headache ×1

What users say

Verbatim quotes, shortened only — each links to the original discussion.

“Cerebrolyseine”
Source discussion ↗
“After ~15 mins of administration of any of these, I'm starting to feel tingling all over the body, weakness, noticeable drop in mood and cognition.”
Source discussion ↗
“Semaks, Selank, and Cerebrolysin are things to consider since you probably need to regrow some of the neurological damage”
Source discussion ↗
“The one near the top of my todo list that my limited research tells me is NOT a dud is Cerebrolysin.”
Source discussion ↗
“I am thinking of getting cerebrolysin to compare it to. However, I am not too keen on intramuscular”
Source discussion ↗
Top discussions (5)

Other options for memory

User data from public discussions; research from PubMed. Information only, not medical advice — talk to a doctor before starting, stopping or combining anything. Data updated October 2, 2026. How we rate